The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-04-24

Protect the babies.
There is a great deal Of charitable work
| done in this and other Southern cities There
are organizations TO provide for destitute
! orphans, and societies which lend q helping
/ hand to the deserving poor and the unfortun-
/ ate. Women who have wealth, and those who
! have incomes barely sufficient to furnish the
necessaries Of life alike respond promptly to
the demands Of charity. Their hearts are
touched with pity by tales of poverty and
suffering. and they make sacrifices to afford
relief to those who claim their assistance. All
of this is creditable and commendable, but
are not some of these Jealous workers in the
charitable field in danger of forgetting that
charity begins at homes We do not refer to
the fact that there are homes that are com
FORTRESS and unattractive for the want of
careful housekeeping, but to the neglect
which the babies and the older children suf-
fer How often are they intrusted to nurses
who are in every way unfit to have charge
Of theml The colored nurses of the present
day are not to be compared with those Of
quarter Of a century ago The gentle-faced,
kind-hearted and Incorporating old col
ored nurses, with their heads adorned
with bandanna handkerchief, have disap-
peared. Their places have been taken by
colored girls who have very little liking for
children, and who, as a rule, do not know
how to take care of them and are indiffer-
ent about promoting their comfort and well
fare Their chief objects are their wages
and their ADJUSTMENTS. They neglect the
babies when out of sight of their mstresses
and devote their time principally to gossip
ing with each other, or receiving the atten-
tions of the negro men who hover about
them.
Cases of cruel treatment of children by
their nurses are not infrequently reported,
but it is very difficult to get the facts of
them because the nurses protect each other.
If witnesses of cruel acts attempt to inter-
fere in behalf of the children they are liable
to be made the objects of abuse, particu-
larly if they are ladies. A few days ago
negro nurse, about twenty-five years of age,
who had two children in charge, was taken
to task for cruel treatment of one of them,
little boy about two years old. The
woman was pushing baby carriage, in
which was a baby, at a rapid rate, and the
boy was clinging to it crying, being almost
exhausted by his efforts TO keep up with the
nurse On being demonstrated with for
dragging the child along in that
cruel manner she answered sulkily
that all she cared for was
the money she earned and that all the chill
dren's parents cared for was the work they got
out of her. 1t is impossible to say, of course,
whether she slandered the childrens parents
or not, but the chances are she told the
TRUTH not only with regard to herself but
also with regard to the parents. If the
mother of the children loved them as she
ought to she wouldn't have intrusted them
to such a nurse
How many mothers are there whose chill
dren are intrusted to these careless and unfit
negro nurses, who know how their children
spend their time, how they are treated or
where they go! May they not hear words
which should never reach their innocent
ears9 May they not be taken to the badly
ventilated homes of the nurses, or of the
nurses friends, where disease turks, or may
they not be so cruelty treated as to make
them bad-tempered and bad-mannered2'
We have nothing to say against charitable
works, but the mother who devotes the bet
ter part of her time to hunting up objects
for charity and leaves her children to the
care of an ignorant, and sometimes vicious
nurse, doesn't know what genuine objects of
charity are. The claim which her babies
have upon her charity is greater than that
of any other charitable claim, and it ought
to be satisfied first. Their comfort, training
and happiness should be her first considera-
ton.